University Of Pittsburgh

About the School

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law is a diverse community of learning whose essential mission is to help lawyers and legal institutions to meet the demands of a rapidly changing legal and professional environment. We perform this mission through three critical functions:

1. We prepare a diverse and talented pool of students to meet the challenges of demanding legal careers whether as advocates, counselors, planners, or policy makers and to meet the leadership responsibilities lawyers are called upon to perform in their personal and professional lives. Our central focus in this effort is the preparation of students for the first professional degree in law.

2. We are a center of legal scholarship, whose members work to enlarge society's understanding of law and its underlying policies, legal institutions, and legal processes.

3. We provide expertise, support and service to governmental units at all levels, to local and national organizations engaged in law reform and policy analysis, to the legal profession, and to the people of Western Pennsylvania, both through the work of our graduates and through efforts to foster improvements in all aspects of the justice system.

Academics

The daily interaction of law with economics, public policy and management, health policy, and international affairs places very real demands on attorneys to approach the practice of law with an interdisciplinary perspective. Motivated by the growing management/social science needs of attorneys and the increasingly intricate legal needs of society, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law offers several joint-degree programs that provide rigorous, integrated training effectively merging law and a number of allied fields.

University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)

JD/MPA, Law and Urban and Public Administration
JD/MPIA, Law and International Affairs
JD/MID, Law and International Development

University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Business

JD/MBA, Law and Business Administration

University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Public Health

JD/MPH, Law and Public Health

University of Pittsburgh School of Law and The Center for Bioethics and Health Law

JD/MA, Law and Bioethics

University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business

JD/MBA, Law and Business Administration

University of Pittsburgh School of Law and The H. John Heinz, III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon

JD/MS, Law and Public Management, Law and Arts Management

To be enrolled in any of the joint-degree programs, you must submit separate applications and be admitted both to the School of Law and to the cooperative school. You are then required to execute a joint-degree program application and send a copy to each school. A joint admissions committee, made up of faculty from both schools, will decide upon admission to the programs. Students are required to fulfill the degree requirements of both schools as modified by participation in the joint-degree program. Students are able to complete any one of the joint programs in less time than two consecutive degrees would normally take.

Master of Laws Program (LL.M.)

The University of Pittsburgh's Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program for Foreign Law Graduates provides lawyers who have obtained their law degree outside the United States with an opportunity to study common law in a United States context. Students pursue their goals with the help of a close-knit community of intelligent and energetic scholars who are at the forefront of domestic and international legal research and scholarship.

Because interaction with U.S. lawyers is integral to understanding U.S. law, the program allows students to study the U.S. legal system and institutions along with American students who are enrolled in the University's Juris Doctor (J.D.) program. This permits students to participate in the full social and intellectual life of the law school, establishing relationships that extend beyond the classroom.

Unlike many other LL.M. programs, the University of Pittsburgh intentionally limits the size of its class in order to offer each student a personalized course of study and experiences. Students benefit from inclusion in the entire Law School community, but with the advantage of a separate small community of global scholars dealing with common experiences. Special opportunities are arranged for the LL.M. class to visit important legal institutions in order to see the practical side of the laws they study. Keeping the class small allows faculty members to deal with student needs on an individual basis. The required LL.M. courses (Introduction to American Law, U.S. Legal Research & Writing, and the Spring Colloquium) also are kept small enough to allow for substantial discussion and comparison with home legal systems by each student, and personal feedback on both written and oral presentations.

At the same time, a class of about fifteen LL.M. students is large enough to have a significant impact as they join their American colleagues in other classes, providing an important contribution to the life of the entire Law School. In an age when revenue generation is encouraged, and numbers often rule, we are pleased that the University of Pittsburgh School of Law has seen fit to focus on quality rather than quantity in this program.

Doctor of Jurisprudence Program (J.S.D.)

The Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.S.D.) is the Law School's most advanced law degree. Designed for exceptional aspiring legal academics who wish to pursue advanced independent study, research and writing, the Law School's J.S.D. program offers candidates the opportunity to become active members of a vibrant legal community. Study toward this postdoctoral degree is open only to exceptionally well-qualified students who hold an LL.M. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law or the equivalent at the discretion of the Associate Dean with advice from the Director of the Center for International Legal Education (CILE). The School of Law will accept no more than two J.S.D. students per academic year.

Academic Program Requirements

The J.S.D. degree will be completed under the supervision of a faculty advisor, selected by the candidate with the consent of the faculty member. No student may apply for the J.S.D. program without first obtaining permission from the Center for International Legal Education and the approval of the faculty member who will be the advisor and the chair of the dissertation committee. Faculty advisors must be full-time tenured faculty members of the law school. J.S.D applicants are encouraged to contact the CILE program if they need assistance in contacting a law school faculty member.

The J.S.D. is a research degree. There is no formal requirement for candidates to pursue additional course work. However, during the first year of the J.S.D. program, a candidate may be required by his or her advisor to take or audit courses and participate in seminars and discussions which will further the student's understanding of his or her field of knowledge and its relation to other fields. The J.S.D. will not have any formal preliminary or comprehensive examinations. Each student must write a dissertation presenting his or her original and independent research. The dissertation must establish the historical context upon which the research is based and identify how the student's work goes beyond reflecting existing secondary literature, and constitutes and original contribution to the field.

The dissertation must analyze and synthesize a broad body of literature and present a clear explanation of the area of research. The work must be of publishable quality and must be of sufficient detail to allow other scholars to build upon this work. The candidate will be required to publicly defend the proposal for the dissertation early in the research process and to defend the dissertation at the conclusion of the process. The J.S.D. candidate, with the approval of his or her faculty advisor, is responsible for selecting his or her dissertation committee. The dissertation committee's composition ultimately must be approved by the CILE Director and the Dean of the School of Law. The dissertation committee for each candidate will include a minimum of three and a maximum of four committee members, of whom the faculty advisor will serve as the committee's chair. The candidate must meet in person with the dissertation committee at least once per year. Any other meetings may be by telephone. During these meetings, the committee will assess the student's progress and discuss objectives and a timetable for completing degree requirements.

Each candidate will be allowed 2-4 years to complete the program, at least the first year of which must be spent in residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The J.S.D. degree must be completed within four years.


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		Pittsburgh School Of Law About the School The University of Pittsburgh School of Law is a diverse community of learning whose essential mission is to help lawyers and legal institutions to meet the demands of a rapidly changing legal and professional environment. We perform this mission through three critical functions: 1. We prepare a diverse and talented pool of students to meet the challenges of demanding legal careers whether as advocates, counselors, planners, or policy makers and to meet the leadership responsibilities lawyers are called upon to perform in their personal and professional lives. Our central focus in this effort is the preparation of students for the first professional degree in law. 2. We are a center of legal scholarship, whose members work to enlarge society's understanding of law and its underlying policies, legal institutions, and legal processes. 3. We provide expertise, support and service to governmental units at all levels, to local and national organizations engaged in law reform and policy analysis, to the legal profession, and to the people of Western Pennsylvania, both through the work of our graduates and through efforts to foster improvements in all aspects of the justice system. Academics The daily interaction of law with economics, public policy and management, health policy, and international affairs places very real demands on attorneys to approach the practice of law with an interdisciplinary perspective. Motivated by the growing management/social science needs of attorneys and the increasingly intricate legal needs of society, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law offers several joint-degree programs that provide rigorous, integrated training effectively merging law and a number of allied fields. University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) JD/MPA, Law and Urban and Public Administration JD/MPIA, Law and International Affairs JD/MID, Law and International Development University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Business JD/MBA, Law and Business Administration University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Graduate School of Public Health JD/MPH, Law and Public Health University of Pittsburgh School of Law and The Center for Bioethics and Health Law JD/MA, Law and Bioethics University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business JD/MBA, Law and Business Administration University of Pittsburgh School of Law and The H. John Heinz, III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon JD/MS, Law and Public Management, Law and Arts Management To be enrolled in any of the joint-degree programs, you must submit separate applications and be admitted both to the School of Law and to the cooperative school. You are then required to execute a joint-degree program application and send a copy to each school. A joint admissions committee, made up of faculty from both schools, will decide upon admission to the programs. Students are required to fulfill the degree requirements of both schools as modified by participation in the joint-degree program. Students are able to complete any one of the joint programs in less time than two consecutive degrees would normally take. Master of Laws Program (LL.M.) The University of Pittsburgh's Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program for Foreign Law Graduates provides lawyers who have obtained their law degree outside the United States with an opportunity to study common law in a United States context. Students pursue their goals with the help of a close-knit community of intelligent and energetic scholars who are at the forefront of domestic and international legal research and scholarship. Because interaction with U.S. lawyers is integral to understanding U.S. law, the program allows students to study the U.S. legal system and institutions along with American students who are enrolled in the University's Juris Doctor (J.D.) program. This permits students to participate in the full social and intellectual life of the law school, establishing relationships that extend beyond the classroom. Unlike many other LL.M. programs, the University of Pittsburgh intentionally limits the size of its class in order to offer each student a personalized course of study and experiences. Students benefit from inclusion in the entire Law School community, but with the advantage of a separate small community of global scholars dealing with common experiences. Special opportunities are arranged for the LL.M. class to visit important legal institutions in order to see the practical side of the laws they study. Keeping the class small allows faculty members to deal with student needs on an individual basis. The required LL.M. courses (Introduction to American Law, U.S. Legal Research & Writing, and the Spring Colloquium) also are kept small enough to allow for substantial discussion and comparison with home legal systems by each student, and personal feedback on both written and oral presentations. At the same time, a class of about fifteen LL.M. students is large enough to have a significant impact as they join their American colleagues in other classes, providing an important contribution to the life of the entire Law School. In an age when revenue generation is encouraged, and numbers often rule, we are pleased that the University of Pittsburgh School of Law has seen fit to focus on quality rather than quantity in this program. Doctor of Jurisprudence Program (J.S.D.) The Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.S.D.) is the Law School's most advanced law degree. Designed for exceptional aspiring legal academics who wish to pursue advanced independent study, research and writing, the Law School's J.S.D. program offers candidates the opportunity to become active members of a vibrant legal community. Study toward this postdoctoral degree is open only to exceptionally well-qualified students who hold an LL.M. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law or the equivalent at the discretion of the Associate Dean with advice from the Director of the Center for International Legal Education (CILE). The School of Law will accept no more than two J.S.D. students per academic year. Academic Program Requirements The J.S.D. degree will be completed under the supervision of a faculty advisor, selected by the candidate with the consent of the faculty member. No student may apply for the J.S.D. program without first obtaining permission from the Center for International Legal Education and the approval of the faculty member who will be the advisor and the chair of the dissertation committee. Faculty advisors must be full-time tenured faculty members of the law school. J.S.D applicants are encouraged to contact the CILE program if they need assistance in contacting a law school faculty member. The J.S.D. is a research degree. There is no formal requirement for candidates to pursue additional course work. However, during the first year of the J.S.D. program, a candidate may be required by his or her advisor to take or audit courses and participate in seminars and discussions which will further the student's understanding of his or her field of knowledge and its relation to other fields. The J.S.D. will not have any formal preliminary or comprehensive examinations. Each student must write a dissertation presenting his or her original and independent research. The dissertation must establish the historical context upon which the research is based and identify how the student's work goes beyond reflecting existing secondary literature, and constitutes and original contribution to the field. The dissertation must analyze and synthesize a broad body of literature and present a clear explanation of the area of research. The work must be of publishable quality and must be of sufficient detail to allow other scholars to build upon this work. The candidate will be required to publicly defend the proposal for the dissertation early in the research process and to defend the dissertation at the conclusion of the process. The J.S.D. candidate, with the approval of his or her faculty advisor, is responsible for selecting his or her dissertation committee. The dissertation committee's composition ultimately must be approved by the CILE Director and the Dean of the School of Law. The dissertation committee for each candidate will include a minimum of three and a maximum of four committee members, of whom the faculty advisor will serve as the committee's chair. The candidate must meet in person with the dissertation committee at least once per year. Any other meetings may be by telephone. During these meetings, the committee will assess the student's progress and discuss objectives and a timetable for completing degree requirements. Each candidate will be allowed 2-4 years to complete the program, at least the first year of which must be spent in residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The J.S.D. degree must be completed within four years.

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